Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. In this post are videos to several TED Talks that address abuse issues that women face internationally. Please share this post and if you have any comments I would like to hear them.

Opening discussions about theses issues is critical. Each story could be you, your sister, your mother, grandmother or friend. Violence has touched many, many women’s lives and they may be the only one who knows about it. Sometimes we need to not only think about the stories that we hear but think about the stories we don’t hear.

Maybe a of the women in the United States that is being sold as a sex slave will find a bar of soap that will tell them where they can get help. Maybe she will find shelter and someone who cares. Maybe not. But if we are not talking about it we are saying that these women are unimportant.

One of the most heartbreaking poems that I have ever read is by a young man who was abused throughout his childhood, Antwone Fisher. We should all cry for every one of the victims of abuse throughout the world maybe that river if tears will lead to change.

Who will cry for the little boy?
By Antwone Fisher

who will cry for the little boy?
Lost and all alone.
Who will cry for the little boy?
Abandoned without his own?

Who will cry for the little boy?
He cried himself to sleep.
Who will cry for the little boy?
He never had for keeps.

Who will cry for the little boy?
He walked the burning sand
Who will cry for the little boy?
The boy inside the man.

Who will cry for the little boy?
Who knows well hurt and pain
Who will cry for the little boy?
He died again and again.

Who will cry for the little boy?
A good boy he tried to be
Who will cry for the little boy?
Who cries inside of me

Please share this post and if you have any comments I would like to hear them.

Sunitha Krishnan: The fight against sex slavery

TEDxColumbus 2011 – Theresa Flores – Find a Voice with Soap

Jackson Katz: Violence against women—it’s a men’s issue

“I wish for a better life. I wish for food for my children. I wish that sexual abuse and exploitation in schools would stop.’ This is the dream of the African girl.” (Leymah Gbowee)”

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When I see things like this I know that the world’s potential is limitless. I know that each child that is born holds a well of hope that we can draw from. This is a video of Ward’s first year given to his Mommy on her birthday from his Daddy.

Last night I went to a book signing in Mount Dora, Fl. The author of the Pulitzer Prize winning book “Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys and the Dawn of a New America“, Gilbert King spoke about his book, the case and then answered questions from the audience. The Groveland Boy case happened in Lake County where I live and involved four young black men who were accused of raping a young white girl. All four were innocent. The story is quite complicated and very interesting. Thurgood Marshall came to Lake County to represent the young men. As the story progresses two of the young men were being transported from the prison back to a Lake County courtroom for their second trial when the sheriff, Willis V. McCall, shot them on the side of the road. He thought they were both dead but one survived.

There is so much more to the story than I am going to tell you here so I am going to ask you to read the book. It’s an important story that needs to be told again and again. It was amazing to listen to Mr.King and also some of the audience told their personal stories. There were surviving family members of the Groveland Fou present and as I waited in line to have my book signed I talked to the man in front of me about the book, race and life, it turns out that he is a descendant of one of the Rosewood families. Rosewood. Fl. was a black settlement in Levy County Florida that was burnt to the ground and the families run off in response to a lynching. In 1997, the movie Rosewood was released.

These stories are important and many times our history is swept under the rug if it is unpleasant and that was done in the case of the Groveland Boys. Most residents of Lake County have never ehard of the case and are not aware that it was not just local news but national and international news. They are not aware that the monies that helped win the case of Brown vs, Brown came from cash the NAACP raised in response to the injustice of the Groveland Boys case. Even many of the surviving family of the Groveland Boys were unaware of details of the case. It was the earlier generations way of protecting them from the sadness and fear.

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Every time I watch videos taken during the Civil Rights Era I cringe at the images, I feel sadness that any human being is treated so poorly by communities and I feel shame. I also feel hope, because while there is still much more work to be done there has been progress. Yes, there are still injustices and prejudices but there is also a deepening of acceptance in society not just for people who’s skin is a different color than our own but for those who have a different sexual preference or a different religion. For that reason I have hope. I know I have taught my children tolerance and compassion and that is where change starts in our homes. You have to see the child to understand where change needs to begin.

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The following letter is to some students from their principle. It was sent home with their standardized tests scores. This, to me, is someone who really understands the education of our children. I found the letter on the blog of Mrs. Rycus, a third grade teacher.

The body of the letter:

“We are concerned that these tests do not always assess all of what it is that make each of you special and unique. The people who create these tests and score them do not know each of you– the way your teachers do, the way I hope to, and certainly not the way your families do. They do not know that many of you speak two languages. They do not know that you can play a musical instrument or that you can dance or paint a picture. They do not know that your friends count on you to be there for them or that your laughter can brighten the dreariest day. They do not know that you write poetry or songs, play or participate in sports, wonder about the future, or that sometimes you take care of your little brother or sister after school. They do not know that you have traveled to a really neat place or that you know how to tell a great story or that you really love spending time with special family members and friends. They do not know that you can be trustworthy, kind or thoughtful, and that you try, every day, to be your very best… the scores you get will tell you something, but they will not tell you everything. There are many ways of being smart.”

Hunger should not be an issue in a country as prosperous as the United States. Now that the food stamp program has been cut but prices still rise it will be even more difficult. Think about how much food is thrown away each day. Can you look a child in the face and tell them they don’t deserve to eat? There are so many children in our country who rely on school lunches and the SNAP program. Do something, anything, to help feed them.

Many of you have read my posts this month for Breast Cancer Awareness month and I want to thank you for that. I also want to thank those of you who linked to the posts or shared them with your friends and family. There is no real way that I can offer a tribute to my Mom other than being the best person that I can be and keeping her memory alive. But this month’s posts made me feel that I was honoring her in a meaningful way. I miss my mom. Please perform your monthly breast exams, get your annual mammogram and take care of the girls. Your life is important to more people than you realize.

‘Never Say Goodbye’: A Love And Life Kept Vivid

When we first met Danny and Annie Perasa in 2004, we heard about how their first date unfolded into an on-the-spot marriage proposal. We got a sense of Danny’s big personality and his deep love for his wife. And we heard about his daily love notes to her.

To my princess, the weather out today is extremely rainy, I’ll call you at 11:20 in the morning. And I love you, I love you, I love you.

“If I don’t have a note on the kitchen table, I think there’s something wrong,” Annie told StoryCorps then. “You write a love letter to me every morning.”

“When a guy is happily married, no matter what happens at work, no matter what happens in the rest of the day,” Danny said, “there’s a shelter when you get home, there’s a knowledge, knowing that you can hug somebody without them throwing you down the stairs and saying, ‘Get your hands off me.’ Being married is like having a color television set; you never want to go back to black and white.”

Two years later, we learned that Danny, a horse-betting clerk, stopped by the StoryCorps booth many times to talk about his love for Annie, a nurse. Danny had become something of a public face of StoryCorps, the 2004 interview touching so many. StoryCorps dedicated its recording booth in Grand Central Terminal to the couple.

We also learned that Danny had been diagnosed with a fast-spreading cancer.

“I always said the only thing I have to give you was a poor gift, and it’s myself, and I always gave it, and if there’s a way to come back and give it, I’ll do that too,” Danny said.

And there was another love letter from Danny to Annie.

The Perasas’ StoryCorps interview in 2006, not long after Danny was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

StoryCorps

My dearest wife, this is a very special day. It is a day on which we share our love which still grows after all these years. Now that love is being used by us to sustain us through these hard times. All my love, all my days and more. Happy Valentine’s Day.

“I could write on and on about her. She lights up the room in the morning when she tells me to put both hands on her shoulders so that she can support me. She lights up my life when she says to me at night, ‘Wouldn’t you like a little ice cream? Or ‘Would you please drink more water?’ ” Danny said. “I mean, those aren’t very romantic things to say, but they stir my heart. In my mind and my heart there has never been, there is not now and never will be another Annie.”

Not long after the interview, Danny Perasa passed away in his sleep after his fight with pancreatic cancer.

Today, Annie, 71, still lives in the apartment where that 2006 interview was recorded.

“I know that people have written to StoryCorps asking if I was still alive,” Annie says. “No, I’m still alive, and I live with the philosophy that Danny and I always had. It was: Never say goodbye.”

Danny and Annie Perasa on their wedding day on April 22, 1978.

Courtesy of Annie Perasa

This year they would have celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary. “And I miss my letters from Danny; I do,” Annie says. “But after Danny died, I had received 1,300 letters of condolences. I mean, I got letters as far away as Beijing, China, or Paris, France:

My English is not too well please excuse me, I wish to send my condolences.

“So I would read one a day because Danny wrote me a love letter every day,” Annie says.

“You know, like people say, ‘You must miss Danny terribly.’ No, it was an honor to be married to him, so it’s not terrible that I had the time to be with him,” Annie says. “You know, life is too short. You come, and you’re gone. But Danny didn’t go. He’s not gone because of StoryCorps.”

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I am a freelance writer and graphic designer in Central Florida. Please check out my portfolio at http://www.laurabwilliamsdesigns. I have always loved to read and write and draw. I wrote and illustrated my first book when I was 6 about a princess and her mean father, the King. It wasn’t ... Continue reading →

Laura B. Williams

I am a writer, content marketer and social consultant. I work with brands and public figures to help them tell their story. You can learn more at www.goodinklings.com.
I am also the host of The Writing Biz Show http://thewritingbiz.com